Mogadishu -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A female soldier roughly passes her hands over the waistband of my jeans as a finishing touch to the most intimate pat down I 've ever received . But we 're not done yet , a metal detector is then passed in unusually close contact with my skin . Up down , over and around .

And that 's just to get through the first gate .

At the second entrance , a Somali close protection officer bars the way and Special Forces officers crowd around as our camera is switched off and on to prove it is indeed a camera .

Even though we had traveled in with African Union soldiers tasked with escorting the President , suspicions still had to be assuaged .

And if all this seems extreme , it is n't .

On his second day in office , Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was targeted by the al-Qaeda linked militant group al-Shabaab , and even on this day , as we drive through town , we pass the still-smoking wreckage of the Somali Minister of Interior 's convoy . A car filled with explosives drove into his flag car , detonating on impact .

Fortunately for the Minister he was n't in the car at the time . Eight civilians , though , were killed on the street .

Read more : Suicide bomber targets Qatari delegation in Somalia , 8 dead

And yet , Mahmud insisted on keeping this appointment at an opening of a hotel in Deynile , on the outskirts of Mogadishu where Al-Shabaab still have a presence .

If he 's worried he did n't look it , smiling from behind his wrap-around shades as women dressed in the Somali flag sing traditional songs of welcome .

Eventually he is brought to us around the back of the courtyard for our scheduled interview -- but not before the perimeter is repeatedly swept .

Read more : Dozens dead in Somali courthouse attack

In an open-air space like this , though , there is only so much his men can do . Especially when his enemies are willing to die for the cause .

The president tells me he is aware that these trips he makes cause consternation among his advisers , but he has absolutely no intention of stopping . He says they send the most powerful message of all -- that al-Shabaab no longer call the shots in Mogadishu .

@highlight

Somali president attended a hotel opening in Mogadishu 's militant occupied outskirts

@highlight

He was targeted by al-Qaeda-linked group al-Shabaab on his second day in office

@highlight

The president tells CNN that al-Shabaab `` no longer call the shots in Mogadishu ''